Region | Lebanon
Infighting intensifies in northern Lebanon
Thirty-eight people, 13 of them soldiers, died on Sunday in the worst internal fighting Lebanon has seen since the end of civil war. The fighting is centred around Nahr Al Bared, a refugee camp home to some 40,000 Palestinians.
- Gulf News report
- Published: 00:00 May 20, 2007
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Smoke rises above the Nahr Al Bared Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese secuirty forces target Fatah Al Islam militants stationed inside the camp.
Dubai: Thirty-eight people, 13 of them soldiers, died on Sunday in the worst internal fighting Lebanon has seen since the end of civil war.
The skirmishes began after security forces raided homes to arrest suspects from the Fatah Al Islam group, accused of robbing a bank on Saturday in Tripoli in northern Lebanon.
The Lebanese soldiers were killed at Nahr Al Bared Palestinian refugee camp – home to some 40,000 Palestinians, and in an attack on an army patrol in Al Qalamoun, which is south of the city, a security source told reporters.
So far fifteen Fatah Al Islam fighters have been killed in Tripoli and four have been killed in the camp. Medical sources in the camp have reported that six civilians, two of them children, have also been killed and that 60 people are wounded.
Fatah Al Islam, formed last year by fighters who broke off from the Syria-backed Fatah Uprising group, said the army had launched an unprovoked attack.
"We warn the Lebanese army of the consequences of continuing the provocative acts against our mujahideen who will open the gates of fire ... against [the army] and against the whole of Lebanon," the Sunni Muslim group, which has links to Al Qaeda, said in a statement.
Residents living in Nahr Al Bared have called for a ceasefire so they can evacuate the wounded.
A worried Dubai resident who has relatives in Nahr Al Bared told Gulf News that his brother and sister have been trapped in their apartment since 4am on Sunday morning.
"I am in touch with them over the phone and I can clearly hear the fighting, it is a very worrying situation," said Mohammed. "They are getting news of what is happening outside from the TV, and neighbours. They are just stuck there."
The army is not allowed into Palestinian camps under a 1969 Arab agreement.
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